5 Strong Reasons Women Should Lift Weights

This week’s Feature Friday highlights Rochelle Louw, a biokinetist from the University of Pretoria, who comes highly endorsed by the Biokinetics Association of South Africa. Louw thoroughly explains why women should engage in weightlifting, which is supported by scientific research.

This article aims to transform common misconceptions about women’s weight training and emphasize the advantages of weightlifting.

Traditionally when women say they are going to start exercising, the style of training is always assumed to be a form of cardiovascular exercise, either traditionally in the form of running, cycling, swimming; aerobics, or more recently, Zumba.

If toning is on the agenda, then it is common to hear about exercise regimes like Pilates or Yoga rather than weight lifting. Why is this, why is heavy weight lifting usually left to men or female bodybuilders?

What is weight training and why should women do it?

Weight training is a form of resistance training and is classified as an anaerobic exercise, which means without oxygen. Anaerobic exercise consists of brief intense bursts of physical activity, where oxygen demand surpasses oxygen supply.

The resistance that is used to obtain the benefits of weight training includes dumbbells, barbells, resistance machines with pulley systems, etc.

So why are women hesitant to include weight training in their exercise regimen?

Ask any lady why she does not want to do weight training, and more than likely it’s because of the idea that it will make their muscles too bulky, it’s dangerous, it’s bad for your joints, and once you have muscle, you can’t stop lifting or it will all turn to fat.

These are all false stereotypes and the actual benefits of resistance training, if widely known, would convince more health-conscious females to incorporate it into their exercise routine.

Benefits of resistance training and why women should lift heavier weights

1. More efficient fat loss

Contrary to popular belief, resistance training can burn more calories than cardiovascular training. The advantage of women lifting weights to lose weight lies in the fact that the body can burn fat both during and after resistance training.

This is known as EPOC: excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, where muscles continue consuming oxygen hours/ days after the heavy training session. In addition, strength training increases lean muscle mass, which creates more muscle contractions and thus burns more calories.

2. Longevity

In general, we understand healthier people tend to live longer. So what strength training brings to the table is decreasing sarcopenia – muscle degeneration which occurs more or less in your 30s.

Physically inactive people can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass each decade after the age of 30.

Keeping the muscles strong is essential, especially for women, to be able to carry on with normal activities of daily life that can become challenging to the elderly.

In 1991, professors William Evans PhD and Irwin Rosenberg MD (working for the USDA Human Nutrition Research Centre on Ageing located at Tufts University) released a book called Biomarkers.

In it, they detailed the results of the factors that influence aging based on almost a decade of research; the top two markers to predict life expectancy were muscle mass and strength.

Longevity is also improved by the well-established fact that weight training improves bone density, therefore decreasing osteoporosis, which results in decreasing the risk of breaking bones after a fall.

3.  Improved Strength

Women are believed to be weaker than their equal-weighted male counterparts. However, research has shown that when you compare the cross-sectional areas of males and females the difference in strength diminishes.

Women have the same potential to gain strength. But here lies the fear of women bulking up, and the impressionable image of female bodybuilders. It needs to be noted that some of these competitors knowingly inject themselves with steroid hormones and a cornucopia of drugs to generate a massive bulk.

The fact is that women who train naturally have a very limited potential to develop a large increase in muscle bulk.

Charles Poliquin who is known for training females of Olympic caliber has stated that he typically sees a gain of about 4kg of muscle with a corresponding reduction in fat mass and overall girth reduction.

Study to determine whether women will turn into the Incredible Hulk when they lift weights

To quote the study by Staron et al., significant increases in maximal isotonic strength (1RM) were observed over a 20-week weight training program for the lower extremities with no change in thigh girth.

So, if women train naturally without steroid hormones, it is highly unlikely they will turn into Ms Olympia. In a groundbreaking paper published in the NSCA Journal, multiple studies have cited that weight training in women causes “a reduction in fat weight, an increase in lean weight and either no change or only a slight increase in total body weight.

All demonstrated significant increases in strength and in most cases these changes were associated with no change or a decrease in lower-body girths and only minimal increases in upper-body limb girth.

4. Improves emotional well-being

With the improvement of muscle shape and form, a decrease in fat percentage it is obvious to assume that positive changes in self-concept take place and improvements in self-esteem.

But on a more positive level, weightlifting has a direct effect on improving the psychological well-being, decreasing anxiety, stress as well as depression.

5. Additionally, this is why women should lift weights:

• Improved insulin sensitivity
• Improved quality of sleep
• Increased energy
• Healthy heart
• Improved cognitive function and memory

Therefore ladies, stop worrying about what weight training might do and instead enjoy the benefits of what it can do, provided you have a well-worked-out program from a professional as well as proper exercise technique.

It’s time to feel stronger, leaner, healthier, and more confident.

Weightlifting workouts for women:

• 5-day workout routine for women
• Best workout routines for beginners

_________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

Cardoso, Crivaldo Gomes, et. Al. 2010. “Acute and chronic effects of aerobic and resistance exercise on ambulatory blood pressure.” Clinics (Sao Paulo). 65(3):317-325.

Heinonen, A. et al. 1993. Bone mineral density of female athletes in different sports. Journal of Bone and Mineral, 23(1):1-14.

Ikai, M. & Fukunago, T. 1968. Calculation of muscle strength per unit cross sectional area of human muscle by means of ultrasonic measurement, Internationale Zeitschrift für Angewandte Physiologie, 26:26-32.

Kirk, Erik P., et. Al. 2010. Minimal resistance training improves daily energy expenditure and fat oxidation” Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise.; 41(5): 1122-1129.

Laubach 1976. Comparative muscular strength of men and women, Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 47(5):534-542.

Magyari PM, Churilla JR. 2012.Association between lifting weights and metabolic syndrome among U.S. Adults: 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Journal of  Strength Conditioning Research. 26(11): 3113-7.

Muir JM, Ye C, Bhandari M, Adachi JD, Thabane L. 2013. The effect of regular physical activity on bone mineral density in post-menopausal women aged 75 and over: a retrospective analysis from the Canadian multicentre osteoporosis study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 23; 14: 253.

Roveda, Eliana, et. Al. 2011. Effects of endurance and strength acute exercise on night sleep quality.” International SportMed Journal. 12(3): 113-124.

Staron, R.S. et al. 1990. Muscle hypertrophy and fast fiber type conversions in heavy resistance-trained women. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology 60(1):71-9

Stone M, Stone Meg, Sands W. 2009. Psychological Aspects of Resistance Training. In: Principles and Practice of Resistance Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics;p. 229-241.

Tucker LA, Mazwell K. 1992. Effects of Weight Training of the Emotional Well-Being and Body Image of Females: Predictors of Greatest Benefit. American Journal of Health Promotion. 6:5

Sarcopenia With Aging. Online available: http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/sarcopenia-with-aging?. Accessed date 2017/02/08